Skirt-adjuster



(No Model.)

A. B. DEAN. SKIRT ADJUSTER.

No. 593,569. Patented Nov. 16,1897,

Wilncskes:

UNTTED STATES PATENT Q EI E.

AUGUSTA E. DEAN, 0E BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SKIRT-ADJUSTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,569, dated November 16, 1897.

Application filed May 13, 1896. Serial No. 591,381. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTA E. DEAN, of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Skirt-Adjusters, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved adjusting device by which to adjust or vary the effective lengths of ladies skirts.

My invention aims to provide a device which shall be attached to the inner side of the skirt, so as to be at all times concealed from view, and which can be manipulated from the outside in order that the skirt may be conveniently and quickly adjusted whereever the wearer may be. g

The prime object of my invention, however, is to provide a device of the character above referred to which, when moved to raise the skirt, will produce an inwardly and upwardly extended fold or plait in the skirt, which plait shall therefore open downwardly, so that it will not catch water or dirt, as distinguished from plaits formed outwardly and upwardly, where they will catch and hold rain or dirt.

My invention further com prehends a novel specific construction of the device for the above use.

Figure 1 shows a skirt in use and shortened in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 shows my improved skirt-ad j uster in side elevation applied to a piece of skirt. Fig. 3 shows the skirt-adjuster detached and eX- tended. Fig. 4 shows it closed to shorten the skirt.

My improved skirt-adjuster, as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, consists of two parts, as o. I), connected together in such manner that the effective length of the device may be readily altered-that is, it may be extended, as in Figs. 2 and 3, orbe shortened, as in Figs. 1 and 4. In Fig. 3 the parts of the adjuster lie end to end, and in Fig. 4 they are superimposed. The parts a b are so made that they may be readily secured to the interior of the skirt 0 or to a carrier p, to be described, by stitches, as at (I, passed through eyes (1 in the parts in suitable manner, and when the device is shortened in length by turningupwardly the part b the material of the dressskirt has made in it an inwardly and upwardly extended fold or plait, as at e, and opening, of course, downward, so that it will neither catch nor hold water or dirt, and the depth of the fold or plait will depend on the lengths of the two parts a b.

When the adjuster is in its shortened position to hold a fold, it will be seen that the elongated finger-piece 19 extends slightly beyond the end of the other portion of the adj uster, and by pressure of the finger against said finger-piece the adjuster may be readily and quickly opened.

When the device is shortened to make the fold, the device should be locked firmly together in such position, and to effect this I have provided the part a with a lip or pro- "ection a which is frictionall en a ed bv a 7 y b b v portion Z) of the part b. v

The device so far described is shown as composed of wire, it being used for cheapness and lightness, but the device may be made from sheet metal struck out by dies. The interlocking or frictional engagement of the lip a, slipping over the horizontal portion b as the members are pinched together, serves to automatically lock the members together, and the lip a being transversely extended substantially parallel to the hinge gives increased frictional engaging surface and materially aids in positively holding the members together and supporting the skirt, the lip a preferably yielding somewhat with a spring action.

The adjusting device will or may be attached to a flexible carrier 19, (shown only in Fig. 3,) which may be secured by stitches to the inner side of the dress-skirt, the carrier being omitted from Figs. 2 and 4 to save confusion of the lines of the drawings.

In my invention it is essential that the hinged members be so constructed and hinged that they may be turned inwardly and upwardly when operated from the outside of the skirt in order that the plait thus formed IOO may opendownwardly instead of upwardly, and I disclaim a device hinged to be turned or folded outwardly and upwardlyas, for instance, such as shown in the patent to Anderson, No. 175,637, dated April 4, 1876.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure. by Letters Patent, is

1. As an article of manufacture, a skirt- .adjuster, composed of two members freely hinged together, said members being constructed to be stitched to the skirt at intervals at and along their perimeters, and having transverse interlocking portions at their free ends opposite and substantially parallel to the hinge, whereby the two members, carrying the skirt with them, may be pinched together and thereby automatically locked, thereby securing the skirt in its shortened adjustment, substantially as described.

2. As an article of manufacture, a skirtadjuster, composed of two members freely hinged together, each of said members being formed of one piece of Wire bent in substanname to this specification in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

AUGUSTA E. DEAN.

WVitnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, THOMAS J. DRUMMOND. 

